The present invention relates to games of chance and skill employing dice. More particularly, the present invention provides a new method for scoring throws of conventional dice and a corresponding board game.
Dice games are presently well known. The popular game of Yahtzee, produced by E.S. Lowe Co., Inc., employs five dice which may be rolled three times per turn, first all together and then selectively. The object of the game is to achieve the highest Positive score on the dice and/or the best predetermined bonuses for poker-like combinations (e.g. a straight, a four of a kind, a full house). The game is scored on a score card.
Similar positive scoring of dice have been employed in numerous other games which combine the chance of a dice throw with movement around a board. Such games include backgammon, Parcheesi, produced by Essanar Co., and the games disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,043,594 issued to Seitz and 3,433,483 issued to Ellis.
Although each of these games provides its own degree of challenge and enjoyment, the use of the dice in these games has varied very little. Accordingly, once a player becomes familiar with the basic concept of positive scoring of the dice, the game must offer rules and other game activities of increasingly greater complexity in order to maintain the interest of more sophisticated players. Such games become increasingly difficult to learn and more time-consuming to play.
Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide a unique method of dice scoring which is readily learned but provides a high degree of interest and challenge in and of itself.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a challenging yet easily understood board game which employs as an integral element the unique method of dice scoring.